Daugherty: Why don't others copy Syracuse's 2-3 zone?

Apr. 5, 2013

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Syracuse wants to play smarter than Michigan: Syracuse University basketball player James Southerland wants his team to play a little smarter than their competitor, the University of Michigan, who they'll play in the Final Four NCAA basketball tournament.

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The five-man amoeba works the slide step like a quintet of ballroom dancers. Two out front, three behind, gliding back and forth across the width of the court, like they’re mopping the floor. Their arms are longer than a summer day in Alaska. If any of the five is shorter than 6-foot-4, it’s an accident.

We see them every winter, and every winter they look the same. There isn’t a book on how they play defense. There is an anthology. Their 2-3 zone is an easy puzzle, yet not many solve it. On Saturday night, Michigan will be the latest to try.

The Syracuse 2-3 is quite possibly the most effective weapon in team sports.

Kids playing CYO ball know what a zone defense is. They learn how to attack it: Pierce the zone, pass the ball, shoot it. Score. Stick a tall, smart player in the high post, someone who can shoot but, more importantly, can make the correct pass. Get ahead later in the game, neutralize the zone.

Any team can do that.

Why don’t more succeed?

“He recruits to it,’’ UC coach Mick Cronin said Friday. “He’’ being Orange coach Jim Boeheim. “He does not recruit small guards. He doesn’t play three guards. His three man (small forward) is 6-7 or bigger at all times.’’

For the record, Syracuse’s backcourt is 6-4 Brandon Triche and 6-6 Michael Carter-Williams. The “three’’ is C.J. Fair, who is 6-8. Their wingspans are 747-ish. If octopi could play ball. . .

Three years ago, UC went to Syracuse, made 13 three-pointers, “and we never had a chance,’’ said Cronin. “We were 4-for-24 inside’’ the three-point line. “You shoot jumpers, that’s what they want. You’ve got to be able to score from 15 feet in. If you can’t, you’re not going to beat them.

“It’s like this: If you’re constantly putting from four to six feet, and I’m putting from 15 to 20, you’re going to beat me, eventually.’’

The most recent clinic came in the regional last week. Syracuse wrapped its length around top seed Indiana. The Hoosiers came in as the most efficient quasi-amateur hoops team in the land. They could pass, they had good shooters. They had a dynamic zone buster, 6-5 Victor Oladipo. They were never in the game.

Indiana had 18 turnovers and shot 33 percent in its 61-50 loss. Its starting guards, Jordan Hulls and Yogi Ferrell, were a combined 0-for-8. “You could see it coming,’’ Cronin said. The problem was, Hulls and Ferrell are both 6-footers. The amoeba swallowed them whole.

Cronin said the way Boeheim coaches the 2-3 makes it even more impenetrable. “He concedes the baseline,’’ Cronin explained. The back three in the zone allow foes five feet out from the baseline. If you try to exploit that gap by passing to it, “they trap you with two monsters. If they’re late getting there, they’ll block the shot,’’ said Cronin.

(By the way, the UC coach is very, very good explaining the game. He merits a shot in the halftime chair occupied by Villanova’s Jay (GQ) Wright. Wright looks fantastic but doesn’t add much to the general knowledge. Maybe Mick should mix in some suits with matching pocket squares.)

Even if the Orange are too late to trap and also miss the block opportunity, their inside size changes shots. With the baseline ignored and the zone extended, good shots become hard to find. That’s when the psychology of the zone kicks in.

Cronin: “It takes so much effort, constantly cutting inside and back out, just to get a shot. If you miss it, that’s where it really affects you psychologically.’’ Ask Marquette.

So if the 2-3 is such a game changer, why don’t more teams embrace it?

“If you get up on them and the game is in the last five minutes, they don’t know what to do. They’ve got to come after you,’’ said Cronin. “That’s not their comfort zone.’’ Any zone slows down the game. When you’re behind, you want more possessions, not fewer.

Cronin said Michigan has a good chance Saturday. Glenn Robinson III, Nik Stauskas and Tim Hardaway Jr. all are 6-6. Cronin believes Robinson has the all-around game needed to fill the crucial high post spot. Underneath, 6-10 Mitch McGary gets better every game. We haven’t even mentioned Michigan’s hottest player, point guard Trey Burke.

The 2-3 will be tested. It has already passed twice in the last two weeks, against Indiana and Marquette. It’s the best weapon in team sports, until proven otherwise.